More Arts and Crafts

A couple posts ago I said I would update you when I finished my Laura Wasilowski-esque fused fabric art for above my fireplace.  At that point, I had all the fabric fused in place and some embroidery embellishment, but I felt that I needed to add some additional interest in a couple places.  Of course I forgot to take a picture of the beading until after I had it mounted under glass...

I added the vertical line of brown beads on the light brown fabric on the left side of the picture.  The beads actually have the rich dark brown, but also some hints of beige and red, so they coordinated well.  And then, a bit harder to see are the three arcs of bone beads with a red seed bead anchoring them on the bottom green panel.  I think if you click on the picture you can enlarge that area to see that detail.  It's subtle, but I think it works.

And here is the finished piece hanging above my fire place.

I'm pleased with it!  I think it fills the space nicely and when I get tired of it, I can make something else for the spot.  :-)

And while I'm on the topic of little works of art, I thought I would share the two fabric post cards that I made to donate to Pokey Bolton's fund raising effort at the Quilt Show in Houston.  Each of these is post card sized, 4 x 6 inches.  The deal is that Pokey will sell the post cards to raise money for a non-kill shelter that she supports in the Houston area.  I guess she did this last year and raised a lot of money, so she has decided to try it again and double her goal!  I hope she's successful.

I suppose that pet-themed post cards are most popular, so I sketched this cat based on a photo that I saw in Real Simple Magazine.

 I'm not really a "cat person" but I thought the blackish cat on the orangish background looked very appropriate for Halloween and I named it "CATitude."

Then I also made a more generic post card, which actually could be sent to someone to offer them good wishes.

It's a fortune cookie with several actual "fortunes" surrounding it.  Again, I think if you click on the picture you can likely read them... they are good fortunes and hopefully lucky numbers, so of course I called it "Good Fortune."

I've been traveling a lot lately and haven't spent much time in my sewing room, but it's nice to have some small, quick projects to show you.

New York Botanical Gardens

Last Saturday we were in NYC and had the pleasure of visiting the NY Botanical Gardens in The Bronx.  

It was a beautiful day to spend a few hours in such a lovely oasis.  I had not been to the gardens before, but it has been a destination I have wanted to visit for quite a long time, so I was very glad that I finally got to go there.  

Here's Russ, Nora and Ari in front of the conservatory.

In the background you can see two of the large sculptures in the courtyard.  There were four of these sculptures, each representing one of the four seasons.  I'm sorry I can't recall the name of the artist, but the idea is that they are conglomerates of fruits and vegetables of the season positioned to form a rather organic head.

Here is summer:

I actually thought they were kind of creepy.

We took the tram ride that took us throughout the grounds and we got off and walked in several areas.  As the tram made it's circuit, the narration gave us information about the plantings in each area and we also got a bit of the history of the gardens.  There are some historic buildings on the property, and lots of the prominent natural rock formations that are similar to those in Central Park.  Though it was obvious that it was late summer and some of the plants were preparing for harsher fall and winter weather, we did find some lovely roses in the rose garden:

I had to include just a couple of pictures of the roses.  

We spent a lot of time in the vegetable and herb gardens which include an area where children can garden and there is also an outdoor demonstration kitchen and little hidden areas with tiny chairs or other things that children can sit on and explore.  I guess I didn't take many pictures there, but I did have my camera out when we went to the beautiful, glass conservatory building and the lily ponds behind it.  I don't know if the lily ponds are leftovers from the Money exhibit I heard so much about last year, but I thought they were particularly lovely.

 I thought these large tray-shaped lily pads were particularly interesting.  

And here is a picture of the conservatory dome:

And finally, a nice photo of Nora and Ari:

Two Takes on the Same Technique

Last May I took Laura Wasilowski's "Zen Doodling" workshop through the Asheville Quilt Guild.  Laura is the co-founder of the Chicago School of Fusing and she is a prolific blogger.  You can visit her blog at Artfabrik.com if you want to purchase any of her hand-dyed fabrics or thread, or just see images of her work.

Laura uses bright colors and fanciful images in her wall art.  Though there may be some actual quilting, especially in the backgrounds of her pieces, she relies on raw edge fusing to hold things together and then embellishes, usually with equally bright colored floss that she has hand dyed.  

At the workshop, we used Laura's fabrics and got a sample of her threads to bring home to finish the piece.  Here's my completed wall hanging, measuring about 15 inches square.  

The design was based a series of doodles I did in class.  Though the fabrics were fun to work with, the color scheme and the design are not really to my liking.  I did add some leaves to make it look a bit more organic.  And the colors ARE brilliant!

Here are some details:

I find that when I take workshops, I need to remind myself that I am there to explore a technique and that I often will not be happy with my first attempt, but it gives me a few more tools to use on future projects.  And so when I got home, I did complete this project.  I enjoyed the embroidery and then just happened to have some coordinating buttons, which I think add to the piece.  

So, now that it is done, I will likely hang it in my sewing room for a while as a reminder of the workshop.  But it's really not something that suits my taste.

Recently, the framed print on our hotel room wall (no kidding... you never know when inspiration will hit) appealed to me and I thought I could create something similar using Laura's techniques.  It was more linear and organic, with hints of leaves, and tones that evoked my home's decor.

So I gathered my fabrics and this is what I came up with:

It's 18 inches square, and yes it really is square.  Right now it's just hanging from a piece of furniture by a binder clip, but it's pretty true to square.

Here are some details:

The front was fused to batting, then I did the embroideries.  I finished the edges by folding them over and fusing a piece of fabric on the back to hide all the thread ends.

Though the fuse is lightweight, it does add a bit of stiffness to the piece and if hung like this (well, right side forward) it would lie flat.
So, after looking at this hanging from my antique cupboard for a few days, I've decided that maybe it needs a little more embellishment, especially on the left side.  So I am auditioning some beads or buttons to add.  I know, I already backed the piece, so threads will show unless I'm really careful to hide them.  But the piece will be framed, so the back will never be seen... or if I am really bothered, I can just fuse another square of fabric over them and hide them.  (One of the really nice things about Laura's technique is that you can hide just about any mistake with some kind of fused "extra.")

So, back to work on it some more.  And then I will have to do the framing.  A bit of luck bought me this frame at an estate sale this weekend and I think it will be perfect.

The frame has a few nicks and dings, but it's basically fine and came with glass and two mats, so I will have some options.  I'll try to remember to do another posting when the piece is finished, matted and framed!
To be continued...

High Time for Labor Day Lunch

 We've had a pretty busy Labor Day weekend, which started with a few hours on Friday at Highland Brewery to welcome in their new Oktoberfest beer, Clawhammer.  

Saturday we were in Hendersonville for the Apple Festival, one of our favorites of the many celebrations in the neighboring towns.  And then Saturday night we enjoyed the final Shindig on the Green of the season and Ann got to go on stage with her friends and Mountain Jam Circle colleagues Alice and Cheryl to show off the raffle quilt.  

Sunday we golfed nine holes at Highland Lake Golf Course with our friends Ed and Carol, feeling kind of sad that this course will be closing at the end of the month.  And then in the evening we enjoyed the first couple of innings of the Asheville Tourist baseball game until we were surprised with sudden heavy rain that sent us home early.
  

I thought today would be a quiet "stay at home" day.  I went to a class at the "Y," as I usually do on a Monday, and Russ took a run on the parkway.  I guess the lure of the Blue Ridge Parkway got to him because he came home with the suggestion that we drive to Pisgah Inn for lunch.  I would never turn down that offer, so off we went!

In spite of the holiday crowd that was there, we got seated rather quickly and even scored a window seat!  (Russ must have winked at the hostess.)

I got to enjoy this view of the mountains to my right:

and Russ to my left:

In the interest of equal time, here's me:

And here's my Monte Cristo sandwich:

(Some of it came home with me for tomorrow's lunch.)

We remembered that last time we were here, likely this spring shortly after they opened for the season, it was so foggy that we couldn't see anything outside the restaurant.  So even though the cloud cover was a little heavier than we would have liked today we still got a spectacular view.

A tourist couple that we struck up a conversation with outside offered to take our picture, so I figured I had better include it in this blog post, too.

And here is a view of the restaurant from the area where we were taking the outdoor photos:

Before we left, I took this photo of some Mountain Ash trees with their brilliant berries.  Whenever I see a Mountain Ash, I think of my dad, as this was a favorite tree of his.  Many of the Mountain Ash trees near the Pisgah Inn are quite old and because of the exposed setting near the mountain top they are quite weathered.  The best stand was actually across the road, so I had to take this photo from some distance away, but you can see the pretty contrast of the green leafy foliage and the bright red/orange berries this time of year.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is truly a treasure and 

we are so lucky to have it right down the street from us!

Fun Day Trip

Yesterday, on a beautiful summer day, we traveled about an hour and a half way to Chestnut Hill, TN. On a previous trip home from Gatlinburg we happened to be routed past the Bush Bean factory, but had arrived too late in the day to tour the museum, store, and most importantly to eat at the cafe there.  So we put it "on the list" of places that we needed to go back to.  Yesterday was the day!

First of all, it was a beautiful drive through the mountains to get there. Chestnut Hill is near the lake area that was created by a TVA dam project to capture water from the French Broad River for the production of electricity, part of the history of the area that we learned about from the bean museum.

There were several nice photo ops outside the museum which sits on the site of A. J. Bush's general store.  This photo shows the old Bush homestead over my left shoulder and part of the bean canning factory over my right shoulder.

 I posed in the old blue truck with Jay Bush and Duke... all of these are featured in the Bush advertising and they humorously help tell the story of the family and the business in the museum.  (Just in case it's not obvious, they are flat board cutouts.)

                                      

And here's Russ with the dog and Jay:

I'm sure I took a picture of Russ with the blue truck, but I couldn't find it on my photo stream, so you will have to settle for a nice picture of the truck.  It's a beauty.

                                       

We were greeted at the door of the general store by one of the many friendly docents and directed to the auditorium to watch two interesting films.  The first gave a nice overview of the family history and how the original A. J. Bush went from being a teacher and general store owner to contracting with Stokley to can tomatoes.  Within a few years he bought the cannery from Stokley and they canned a variety of items, including sauerkraut, before settling on becoming bean experts.  The film also gave a nice "factory tour" to show all the steps and technology being used in the cannery today.  Then there was a short, funny video, starring Jay and Duke, outlining the history of outdoor grilling.  Chuckling, we left the auditorium and toured the museum.  It was remarkably interesting.  There was more family history and some interesting archival photos of the early cannery.  You could step on a scale and see your weight in beans.  There was information, very nicely displayed about beans around the world.  You could view 1950's TV commercials as well as get a preview of the newest commercials being planned for the Bush company.  You could easily spend an hour or more and not see or do all the interactive, up-to-date displays.  I guess I didn't take many pictures in the museum... I always wonder if it's allowed.  

I did take a photo of this quilt, made in the 1800's by Sallie Bush's grandmother.  It's an Irish Chain which was a popular design of the time.  It was one of several textiles that was on display.

In the advertising, Duke, a talking dog, is always trying to "spill the beans" about the family's secret recipe for their original beans.  (It actually was based on a family recipe they say.)  Anyway, as you leave, they show the book containing the recipe being protected by fake laser lights.

Oh, darn, I don't have time to upload that photo, but you'll have to take my word for it, it was clever!

And of course, we had to eat at the cafe.  Here's the local catfish:

And we saved room for pinto bean pie!

Onesie Hexies

A year or so ago, our quilt guild had a "tag sale."  I succumbed to buying this bag of preprinted 1/2 inch hexagons (inklingo.com) for $3.  

Obviously the seller had participated in an exchange and the bag contained at least 1,800 hexagons, nine of each color and 200 different fabrics.  I had been doing an English paper piecing project at the time, using 3/4 inch hexagons, and had seen a tutorial about using the inklingo printed hexagons, which are connected with a running stitch and without being basted on a template.  

I had no idea what I would ever use these little scraps for, but they were just dazzling to look at.

Driving to Maine to meet my new grandchildren left me scrambling for some hand work to bring along and I thought of the hexies.

During the two day car trip, I made this assortment of hexagon flowers.

Here they are all pressed and ready to have the basting removed.

I have to admit, at first I felt like I was all thumbs, trying to connect these little hexagons, especially with the movement of the car, but after a while I got the hang of it.  I do think this is a nice way to do paperless Engish paper piecing and I would like to try it with bigger hexagons.

Then I sewed them onto little onesies.

And here's my granddaughter modeling one!

Pretty cute! 

Now, what am I going to do with the remaining 1765 hexagons?

Garden Art... and a cute coincidence!

Our travels last week brought us to Plattsburgh for a few days.  Since we were staying with Barb, I was delighted to find this nice piece of garden art at the Hendersonville Garden Festival the weekend before we traveled to serve as a hostess gift.  Barb has nice summer gardens and blue is her favorite color, so I thought this glass and china flower would be a perfect addition to her yard.  I loved the petals on the milk glass larger dish and the electric blue of the custard dish that formed the center of the flower.  I figured it was a real unique gift... certainly one of a kind!

When Barb saw us carrying in the piece of rebar that serves as a stem, she said, "You have your early birthday present upstairs... and it requires a rebar, too!"

So, here's my birthday present:

Barb picked a very similar flower for me!  She knows I'm fond of sunflowers and yellow, so this combination suggested that.  She also painted the rebar green, which is a nice touch.  This little guy is actually six layers of china and glass.  The wind will not carry this away!

 Here it is in it's temporary location between the rosemary and the chives.
While on the topic of yard art, here are a few other things I found in Barb's garden.

It took a lot of drinking, but her bottle tree is in full bloom.  I'm not sure if the wine was all that great, I think it was selected based on the color of the bottle!

Here are two shots of her hummingbird feeder that was made by a North Carolina artist... a past birthday/hostess gift:

 

 And a spoon flower, which I believe Barb bought on one of her North Carolina trips.

 Here is an early birthday gift I bought at Maggie's friend Elizabeth's garden center in Plattsburgh.  (Cook and Gardener, a must stop if you are up that way!)
It's not the greatest picture because it is taken with a backdrop of clouds, but it's a nice rainbow glass wind chime which hangs from a planter tree attached to one of our deck posts.  I love the frosted glass in all those shades of color and so far, I find the gentle tinkling of the chimes pleasant.
Next to it on another "branch" is a twirly copper butterfly shaped wind ornament that I bought last year in Santa Barbara.

 It's a great time of year to be outdoor doing some garden decorating!